WKORV Owners' Update

[vacationtime1]

We went to the Owners’ Update at WKORV today. We did it for the 4,500 StarPoints. Not too hard a sell. A few observations:

1. We own a Kierland TS which we bought last fall on resale. Starwood’s printout shows us as having purchased it in 2004 with our first use in 2007. We presume the original purchaser bought in 2004, but it is curious that Starwood’s records are opaque even to them.

2. The WKORV sales office is selling WKORV-N which they say will sell out within a few months. After that, they will sell Princeville. WKORV-FN (“Further North”, my name, not theirs) has not yet been approved by the county and is at least two years off. “FN” will be two and three bedroom units; the two bedroom units will NOT be lockouts.

3. Starwood offers “owners’ pricing” on EOY’s; they sell EOY’s to existing owners for one-half of the annual price rather than the regular 65-70%. They would have treated us as owners for this purpose based on our Kierland resale.

4. I asked about requalification. Their position changed during our meeting. Initially, we were told that we needed to buy an annual usage to requalify our annual resale. Then they said any purchase over $40,000 would do it. Finally, they would have requalified our Kierland if we bought the EOY Ocean Front for $37,950 (one-half of the annual price). This is clearly a subject for negotiation.

5. WKORV-N: island view = $51,900 (annual); ocean view = $65,900 (annual); ocean front = $75,900 (annual). Prices going up July 1.

 

[DeniseM]

5. WKORV-N: island view = $51,900 (annual); ocean view = $65,900 (annual); ocean front = $75,900 (annual). Prices going up July 1.

Isn't it amazing that they can get those prices when you can buy a resale IV or OV at the WKORV for less than half what they're asking!

 

[DavidnRobin]

1) This is part of their fabulous 'state-of-the-art' database system (NOT!) - they had all the wrong info on our WKORV and WSJ resales also - we actually got to see what the previous sellers paid and when. They were not even aware we were resale buyers.

2) Assuming that a) they are telling the truth, or b) they are not misinformed themselves

3) Of course they will with the proper negotiation, and their desire to sell VOIs.

4) Clearly.

5) Prices going up in July - right... better hurry.

 

[DavidnRobin]

Isn't it amazing that they can get those prices when you can buy a resale IV or OV at the WKORV for less than half what they're asking!

But you lose the ability to convert SOs to SPs, and getting SVN Elite Status!
:rofl:

 

[LisaRex]

Thanks for the update, vacation1. I, personally, hope that the county will limit development in the future to preserve the beauty that we all fell in love with. I'm in Hilton Head Island, SC as I type and I'm sad to report that overdevelopment has killed what drew us to the island 18 years ago. The zoning board has allowed far too many people to crowd onto one island and they are STILL allowing new development. There's nothing charming about traffic jams and trying to navigate through busy intersections with young kids on bikes. It's a tough balance to negotiate but I'm hoping that Maui can strike the right balance between preservation and development.

I'm also curious why you'd pay from the developer to requalify your units given the changes in Elite benefits. After the recent letter that went out, any chance that SVO had of me buying a 2nd week from the developer to requal my resale much went out the window.

 

[vacationtime1]

I'm also curious why you'd pay from the developer to requalify your units given the changes in Elite benefits. After the recent letter that went out, any chance that SVO had of me buying a 2nd week from the developer to requal my resale much went out the window.

We didn't purchase from the developer, although we liked WKORV a lot; we are considering a resale purchase there. I put out their proposals so others would have a baseline. If we were to purchase a developer unit to requalify a previous resale purchase, it would be to requalify a voluntary unit, not a mandatory (like our Kierland).